Back in July, Magento announced the availability of the Magento 2 Merchant Beta release. This release is the last major milestone before the official Magento 2 version is released in the 4th quarter of 2015.

A few links for more information about the Magento 2 Merchant Beta version:

Magento 2 Blog Post on Magento.com

Magento 2 Webinar Video Recap

We here at LexiConn have been working with both the developer and merchant beta versions. It is a full featured ecommerce system, that on first glance looks similar to Magento 1, but really is almost a completely new ecommerce application. From a complete code rewrite to an updated admin and cart/checkout process, Magento 2 is not the same as the original. The beta is still a work in progress, lots of bugs and issues to be worked out by Magento. It is not ready for a live store, but is a “peek” into what to expect when Magento 2 is officially released.

We’ve set up two demo stores that you are welcome to test out:

Magento 2 Shared Hosting Merchant Beta Demo – Populated with sample data to see how it would look as a “real” store. This install is on one of our standard shared Magento servers, utilizing the built-in Full Page Cache of Magento 2 and using file based storage. It gives you an idea of what you can expect with Magento 2 hosted with us. Our shared environment works well for smaller stores.

Magento 2 VPS Hosting Merchant Beta Demo – Another sample data store set up on one of our standard Virtual Private Servers (VPS). This store is using Varnish 4 as the caching solution instead of the built-in full page cache.

Feel free to kick the tires, and ask us any questions about either demo store, or Magento 2 in general.

Magento 1 or 2?

Many merchants are not sure which version they should be exploring. The good news is Magento 1 will be supported for three years from the date that Magento 2 is released. Magento 1 is a mature ecommerce product that has lots of themes, extensions, and support around the internet. It is not going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

If you already run a Magento 1 store, you may want to stick with Magento 1 for now. There is no 100% seamless upgrade path to Magento 2, so it’s not a quick update. In many cases it will be a complete rewrite for themes, extensions, and custom work. There are very few extensions for Magento 2 now, and themes are still a work in progress.

If you are thinking of launching a new ecommerce store in the next 12 months, Magento 1 may still be the best choice. Magento 2 will be released by the end of 2015. However, there will be a number of bugs that will rear their ugly heads, as well as unexpected bumps and issues with such a new and large product. It likely won’t be “stable” until the middle of 2016 (just my opinion). Magento 1 would be a much easier path for a store looking to launch in the next year or sooner.

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Whether you choose Magento 1 or Magento 2 for your ecommerce store, we’ll be ready for either version. Our offerings are optimized for Magento 1 and 2, and we’ll continue to improve our services with regards to Magento as it grows and changes.